Some computing devices, such as laptop computers, include one or more input devices, such as a mouse, a keyboard, or a touchscreen. Various computing devices include a trackpad or touchpad that can be used in place of or in addition to a mouse to maneuver a curser on a computer screen, or to trigger one or more functions of a computing device. Such trackpads or touchpads can be coupled to, or integrated within, the computing device.
A touchpad (also referred to herein interchangeably as a trackpad) is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, which is a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on screen. Touchpads are a feature of laptop computers or mobile devices, and are also used as a substitute for a mouse, for example where desk space is scarce. Because they vary in size, they can also be found on personal digital assistants and portable media players. Wired or wireless touchpads are also available as accessories.
Often, when a finger is first set on a trackpad, the center of the finger that sets the coordinate on the trackpad unintentionally moves slightly, causing “cursor wobble”—a slight, unintended movement of a cursor on a display of the device. This cursor wobble may also occur during click events on the trackpad, or on the edge of the trackpad (for example, where a part of the finger is on the trackpad and a part of the finger is off of the trackpad). Cursor wobble also manifests when the user wants to select a link, but cursor wobble instead causes an unintended link to be selected. Another example of cursor wobble is when a user intends to use two fingers to right click, but cursor wobble instead causes the screen to move a little bit. Other issues may arise when fingers are resting on a portion of the trackpad (such as a dampened zone) and the resting fingers are misinterpreted as gesturing or scrolling inputs.